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The Glass Closet book

The book that explains why it’s better for you, your business and the economy when you bring your authentic self to work

Today lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered persons in the Western world enjoy greater acceptance and more legal protection than ever before.

In The Glass Closet, John Browne, offering incontrovertible evidence, makes the case that it’s better for you, your business and the economy when you bring your authentic self to work.

The book demonstrates that there are significant hidden costs of hidden lives. It challenges individuals and companies to create workplace environments that get LGBT inclusion right. And in particular, it calls on corporate leaders to consider inclusion and diversity in every business decision they take.

John Browne spent the whole of his career at BP in the closet, including 12 years as CEO.

He was outed publically by a London tabloid on 1 May, 2007.

In The Glass Closet, he recounts this difficult experience. He builds upon this personal and candid story with the most recent research and interviews with LGBTI leaders. The resulting information exposes the lingering culture of homophobia in corporations around the globe.

The Glass Closet is a movement designed to inspire the LGBTI community to share who they are with their employers and co-workers.

‘I wish I had been brave enough to come out earlier during my tenure as the chief executive of BP. I regret it to this day. I know that if I had done so, I would have made more of an impact for other gay men and women. It is my hope that the stories in this book will give some of them the courage to make an impact of their own.’ John Browne